Blog

It’s easy to be swayed at this time of year that drinking juice is “healthy” and that it will negate all the sins for which we’ve committed in December! We are encouraged by very persuasive and attractive marketing to purchase 3, 5 or even 10-day  juice cleanses and detoxes to help our health and be pushed across the line by promises of dramatic weight-loss. And of course we think we are giving our children a healthy alternative by letting them drink box after box of “pure fruit juice”. It’s pure fruit juice, so it’s good for us, right?

Juice, whether it is store-bought (the worst), or freshly made at home seems to be promoted as a healthy choice. But, contrary to popular belief, juice, purchased from the supermarket, is not far from drinking pure liquid sugar. And in truth, it’s not much better than drinking a can of fizzy drink, in terms of how your body deals with it. Read on for all the details along with my simple tip for “detoxing or cleansing”.

I had the pleasure of attending 15 hours of post graduate education on autoimmunity treatment applications and clinical strategies by the Kharrazian Institute earlier this month and I wanted to write a few blogs over the coming months with some bite size pieces of information to help any of you that follow me. This post is on the very important area of losing tolerance - and I’m not talking about with your children or partner! 

Autoimmunity is highly complex and multi-faceted, with many overlapping possible causes. As a functional health practitioner, with a particular interest in best supporting clients with autoimmunity to lessen symptoms and reduce  “flares”, a fundamental factor to try and manage initially is the area of “Immune Tolerance”.  In this blog I explore oral tolerance in detail, and show how when this is “lost”, foods, chemicals and antigens-bacterial, viral and stealth can induce autoimmunity, and play a significant contributing factor.

Antioxidants, free radicals and oxidative stress: have become trendy topics as far as health and longevity are concerned. The best way to think about oxidative stress is as the wear and tear that happens on your system as part of our general and normal running of bodily functions,  called metabolism. To protect ourselves against oxidative stress and free radicals we have a built in antioxidant system designed to mitigate this wear and tear, but can run into health problems if these reserves are overused and become depleted. 

Read on to find out more about free radicals and how they cause damage the role of antioxidants & my advice for you...

The vaginal area has its own distinct microbiome community which differs from the other microbiomes; the gut and the skin. An imbalance (termed dysbiosis) of the vaginal flora can play a large role in infertility, frequent miscarriage, endometriosis, frequent urinary tract infections, bacterial vaginosis,  itching and pain.

A number of protective Lactobacillus species dominates what is termed a healthy vaginal microbiota. So what is so special about Lactobacilli then, that keeps the vaginal microbiome “healthy”? 

Read on to find out more including the screening and products I personally recommend

Intermittent Fasting has become the new buzz word, 5:2, 16:8 - are you confused? I’m not surprised! In this week’s blog I explain what these terms mean and represent. Fasting is generally defined as: the abstinence from or limitation of food, drink or both. There are three main categories of fasting: time restricted fasting; intermittent fasting; and short term and prolonged or periodic fasting.

From a physiological and metabolic perspective, each type of fasting leads to different health effects, depending on the type and duration of the fast. Read on to find out more including one of my clients’ diary account of her personal experience of a 5 day Prolon plan (she writes really well and is worth the read!)

“I’m allergic to gluten and diary”, is a common thing I hear from both my clients and just generally in social circles. This whole area can be a very confusing topic, so, I am putting pen to paper and this blog post is designed to help you understand the difference between an allergic food reaction, food sensitivities or intolerances and whether you might benefit from testing. Here I explain the reactions occuring in each instance of a food allergy, sensitivity and intolerance followed by the testing reports I tend to use. 

The Gastrointestinal tract, or “gut”; as it is more commonly termed has may roles and mechanisms. When assessing clients that come to see me with functional digestive disorders, rather than focus on what specific disease they may or may not have, I endeavour to assess and restore normal function across all the digestive process, which is best broken down into 5 areas of function: Digestion & absorption; Immune function & Oral Tolerance; The Gut microbiome; The maintenance of an immune barrier; and The Nervous system of the gut.

In this post I focus on digestion and how important a thorough assessment is when working with IBS.

Painkillers like ibuprofen and paracetamol (also known as acetaminophen) and in increasing numbers, opioids, have become our go-to solutions for pain management. Opioids are often hailed as the holy grail in pain relief and management but come at a price - nausea, drowsiness, GI symptoms, especially constipation, addiction and abuse.  Many herbs and spices have anti-inflammatory properties that can provide pain relief which I want to share with you, but before I delve into that, we need to explore what inflammation is first.

Here I'm explaining how the Inflammatory pathway to pain plays out usually in 1 of 4 routes and by understanding these, we can then explore what natural compounds can we use to manage inflammation.

I initially saw a client in April 2018 who wanted to work with me to uncover root causes for her chronic eczema which was really quite pronounced on her face, her weight, and to reduce the increasing amount of time she was experiencing hives.

I wanted to share this with my community as an example of how taking a broader view and working to connect the dots can help to better optimize health and facilitate the body to come back to a place of balance. It takes time, and commitment though, this has been 18 months of work!